RAW Image Color Differences

[Juliett Sierra]

Okay so I'm not sure exactly what this has to do with (I'm pretty sure it's a white balance/RAW issue) but on my camera the pictures look very vibrant but when I'm looking at the RAW images in Lightroom they are muted. Sometimes just to view images I use Picasa Photo Viewer and as it loads an image it has it's original vibrance. Wait a few seconds and it returns to the Lightroom muted colors. Any reason for this or is there any way I can return the color? In Lightroom under White Balance I select 'As Shot' yet none of the color returns. Very frustrating. Do I have to re-adjust the pictures to try and match the color that was shown on my camera and in Picasa?

 

[Josh66]

The in-camera preview (and I guess the Picasa preview) is a processed RAW - it has things like contrast, saturation, and sharpness applied to it.

The RAW doesn't have any of that. You have to do it all in LR.

You can set Lightroom up to apply presets upon import if you want.

 

[DennyCrane]

You cannot directly "view" a RAW file. Everything you see is a conversion of some kind to a viewable form. Whether in camera or in some other program, it's had some basic processing done to turn into a viewable form.

All the information is there, it's just a matter of doing your own post-processing to get it where you want it. Color temperature is a huge part, but so is setting the saturation levels, the contrast, and not least, the sharpening. A jpg has sharpening done in camera, RAW has none.

 

[Juliett Sierra]

Alrighty, well thank y'all so much. And from what I'm hearing I assume that I have to apply the settings afterward. Perhaps I should have just shot in RAW+Jpeg? I just wish that you could use the settings used on the camera and apply them back to the RAW image. Not a big deal I suppose. Thanks again. Sorry if this topic has been discussed before.

 

[DennyCrane]

I shoot RAW+jpg myself and simply for having a basic jpg to use for preview purposes. If it's bad, it's erased, if it's good, I'll post-process it's RAW counterpart.

 

[Juliett Sierra]

Yeah, hence forth I think I shall use both. I actually did for awhile but I am able to take more with just RAW so that attracted me to it. I need to get a bigger memory card sometime anyway.

 

[Dwig]

...I just wish that you could use the settings used on the camera and apply them back to the RAW image. ...

You can, and sometimes it can be done automatically.

The camera settings are used by the camera to generate a viewable bitmap for preview. With some cameras, those settings are also used to generate a small JPEG thumbnail that is embedded into the RAW file. In your case that is happening and Picasa Photo Viewer is displaying this thumbnail briefly while it is processing the RAW image in the background. When the RAW is processed using the viewer's default settings it replaced the low rez thumbnail.

To "fix" the problem you need to use a RAW converter that allows you to save your own custom defaults. You then can open a test file, make manual adjustments to create an image that looks like the camera's preview and save these settings as new defaults. They will then be used as the default starting point with other images.

The other "fix" works only with some camera brands. This fix is to use the RAW converter supplied by the camera manufacturer that is set up to read the camera settings (they are saved in almost all RAW flavors as header data) and apply them using matching RAW conversion algorithms. Nikon is one manufacturer that has an excellent RAW converter, Capture NX2, that matches the in-camera converter well and, instead of using its own default settings, it reads the camera's settings in the file and uses those as the starting point. With properly adjusted displays, both the camera's and the computer's, the displayed images will be very similar.

 

[Garbz]

I just wish that you could use the settings used on the camera and apply them back to the RAW image.

Your camera manufacturer's raw converter will do all that. However that means not using Lightroom / Photoshop which for me is a clear loser. One of the reasons I moved to Lightroom is because of my dis-satisfaction with how the camera renders colours.

The real key here is your camera is set up with many pre-set defaults. A decent RAW converter like Lightroom has defaults of its own, but the whole point of RAW is that the power is now in your hands. Play with the sliders and when you find something you like set it as a preset. Or if you like something generic you like then set it as an import default. You're out shooting landscapes, then when you get home just select all your landscape images and click the landscape preset you made.

 

[Big Mike]

Shooting RAW+JPEG is a waste of space IMO. You can create JPEG files from RAW files at any time.

As mentioned, you can set up presets in LR. So if you want the previews to look more like the processes JPEG images, you can set that up. You can apply a preset to individual images, to a batch of images or you can even apply them at the same time you import them into LR.

Personally, I think the best thing to do, is learn to see the potential of an image, when looking at the RAW previews. No preset will be perfect for every image...and being able to make those individual adjustments is the high level of control that most of us want.

 

[Vautrin]

You just really need to learn how to work with the lightroom workflow.

Prior to Lightroom I might take a shot twice -- once in color then once with the black & white setting on my camera

Lightroom completely removes any in camera changes from the raw files. So things like whether an image is black and white or saturated need to be done after the fact.

So now I just take one image of everything, then when I see somethign I think would look cool in B&W, I set up a virtual copy of the image, and make one B&W. Now I have one file + 2 images

 

[Josh66]

[...] I set up a virtual copy of the image, and make one B&W. Now I have one file + 2 images

I love the virtual copies...

I use them a lot for B&W, different processing, different crops, etc...

 

[kkamin]

I just wish that you could use the settings used on the camera and apply them back to the RAW image.

Your camera manufacturer's raw converter will do all that. However that means not using Lightroom / Photoshop which for me is a clear loser. One of the reasons I moved to Lightroom is because of my dis-satisfaction with how the camera renders colours.

The real key here is your camera is set up with many pre-set defaults. A decent RAW converter like Lightroom has defaults of its own, but the whole point of RAW is that the power is now in your hands. Play with the sliders and when you find something you like set it as a preset. Or if you like something generic you like then set it as an import default. You're out shooting landscapes, then when you get home just select all your landscape images and click the landscape preset you made.

I haven't used Lightroom yet, but I use Adobe Camera Raw. When I bring a file into ACR, I can set the picture mode (i think its called) to a Canon preset, like Canon Faithful. Isn't that what she wants, to call up her camera's preset? Doesn't LR have presets for her camera type or aren't they downloadable?

 

[kkamin]

edit: accidental double response

 

[inTempus]

You can set Lightroom to default to your camera settings. Most major brands already have default settings available in Lightroom that come pretty close to those settings you see on camera. You just need to select them. If you don't have these profiles, I believe you can download them from Adobe.

By default, Lightroom chooses "Adobe Standard". But if you look at the drop down (right side, scroll to the bottom) you'll see other options. Here's mind for my Canons:

If you make changes to this setting, you can hold down the Alt/Option (Mac) key and you'll see the button change from "Reset" to "Set Default". Clicking set default will change the settings and apply them to all future imports of RAW images.

 

[itznfb]

This topic is killing me. Use your manufacturers software to get accurate color. Period.